I have hit rock bottom with a chest infection asthma and general crapness. GP trying to help. The so called hot clinic at Barts will not answer their phone. Maybe I need phages for chest infection too. GP to their credit have managed to get me seen face to face by one GP who said don’t take antibiotics take steroids. Next day they got their paramedic wonder amazing nurse to see me. She ordered up mega antibiotics mega nebulisers mega steroids and has told me to go to A and E at the very moment it gets worse.

Meanwhile uti world continues and whilst sitting coughing here I thought an update on complementary medicine may be a good idea. Please don’t feel you have to read all this. It is just me downloading and deciding what to do or if in fact I have been scammed!!

In the beginning:

Jerome had mentioned Phage a while ago and so started a research project I did not know I needed!

What is Phage

Viruses like bacteriophages can help fight against antimicrobial resistance.

Phage Therapy

Phage therapy, i.e. the use of bacteriophage to kill off bacteria that are causing an infection, is nothing new: the first documented use was over 100 years ago. However with the discovery and mass production of antibiotics, phage therapy fell out of favour in most parts of the world. Now though, in the face of persistent infections that are not responsive to any antibiotics, scientists and doctors all over the world are returning to the idea of using phage to treat infections. ¹

There remain numerous logistical and legal issues including finding the right phage for each infection and getting dosing right.

Where are the centres?

At the moment patients are accessing Centres in Georgia, Poland and France. 

Georgia seems to have the edge and two clinics there are making strides to encourage non nationals to register and get treatment. 

This then is where I started! 

Using their easy guide for patients I registered. Uploaded my medical history and latest scans and microbiology. 

 please  register in our web site and  after send us urine sample  with  sterile container  via FedEx

From this sample our lab will isolate the bacteria that cause your infection and test sensitivity to commercially available phage preparations.
It is advised that you be off antibiotics for at least 5 days prior to taking your sample.
The price for the first  investigation of the sample is 200 USD and each additional $150. Our web site contains instructions for shipping the sample and for payment for the lab investigation. The lab needs 4-5 days for investigation, after we receive the result and inform you about the next step.

The sample

The next bit was to send a urine sample. Not so easy. But again followed their detailed instructions having not taken antibiotics for 5 days. Bought a Post Office sample sending category B sample box ( don’t get Category A that’s for biohazard or something)Then I signed up with FED Ex business account. Organised a FEDEX courier to collect said urine. Carefully finding out the customs codes. Thank you Daniel and google. In the old days as he ran his family tea business, D had to do weird shipping stuff! and having made sure everything said sample of no value! Courier was quite put out to find out it was urine and valueless. I just smiled and thanked him. !

Off to various FedEx offices it went. and eventually arrived in Georgia customs. True to their word, the urine was cleared by customs and into the lab. I am only unsure as to quite what warm shaken cocktail of bugs must’ve grown over the 10 days of travel. 

Payment

In the meantime I was to have paid 200 USD for the lab checks. The many Georgian bank accounts simply were not recognised by Barclays or Santander international iban swift wotsit codes or not. In desperation I wired 200 USD to what they call their New York intermediary account. Put every little detail on. But no, despite clearing my bank account the Phage Therapy Centre in Georgia say it never arrived. 

Santander have put a tracker on it. GPS or what?

Is this a scam?

As this all begins to seem like a sort of heist activity I began to worry. Not least because when the nice Georgian admin lady sent me her personal bank details, with an intermediary in London account. Barclays went nuts over that one! Fraud team at the bank was understandably not happy and somehow we went through it all and they cleared it. 

Clinic Report

That opened up the opportunity to read the clinic report from the Lab. 

Dear JACQUELINE EMKES,

Your bacterial analysis is complete.

About the Testing

The culture that you sent was tested for sensitivity to commercial bacteriophage perparations and to antibiotics. The results typically show the species of bacteria detected and, for each of these species, an indicator showing if the species are sensitive or resistant to both commercial bacteriophage preparations and to commonly used antibiotics.

3+ = some resistance, meaning the pathogens in the culture that you sent are mostly sensitive to the tested antibiotic or bacteriophage preparation

2+ = mostly resistant meaning the pathogens in the culture that you sent are mostly resistant to the tested antibiotic or bacteriophage preparation

1+ = slightly inhibition of bacterial growth meaning the pathogens in the culture that you sent are minimally sensitive to the tested antibiotic or bacteriophage preparation

R = resistant, meaning the pathogens in the culture that you sent are resistant to the tested antibiotic or bacteriophage preparation

Of course I am an R

Guess what? The lab says mine is R. Now I can pay 1560 USD for a phage to be made for me personally. 

We received your lab result, which showed that in urine you have  E.coli high growth.
Unfortunately commercial Phages are totally resistant  and  necessary to prepare custom Phages,  which  takes  one month and half and price for the one strain is $1560,  without shipping cost.
The lab needs to know ASAP if you intend to order phages,as they don’t keep the strains long.
In case  if the lab is not able to find the matching phages, only 500 USD is refunded.
It includes 20 box of individual Phage.
Each box contains 5(10ml)  bottles of Phage.
You have to  drink 2 bottles in the morning and  2 bottles in the evening.

For that to achieve a good result, we recommend you to come to the clinic for holistic treatment,  after when Phages gets ready.

Please inform us your  decision as soon as you can, because lab doesn’t keep the strain long.

More bank payments:

²I can choose to pay via New York. Which I have done. 1560 USD am I bonkers?

I can choose to go to Georgia for 3 weeks. Pay 4000 USD plus flights plus accomodation for full treatment. Flights seem to connect via Germany and take 7 hours or so.

Do I need a visa to enter Georgia?

Citizens of the European Union, the United States, Japan, Canada, Israel, Switzerland and Norway may enter Georgia for up to 90 days without a visa. 

Shall I stay or shall I go?

option 1: I can choose to have phage made up and sent here. It takes about 6 weeks. 

Maybe someone in UK can do the prep work the holistic stuff?

option 2: I can go to Georgia

When a patient travels to the clinic for holistic treatment, we will check fresh samples again to compare its (old and new one).
First course of treatment continues for 2-3 weeks, it depends on the patient?s condition!
Our approach is:
The whole body is examined (General Blood, Biochemistry, X Ray, Ultrasound, Bronchoscope, Stool, Urine, Prostate fluid, Sinus, throat samples etc. We also check the immunology status and if there are any toxins present in the blood, then there is a need of blood clearing through IV vitamins and minerals. All this helps boost the immune system which is very important in clearing the infection.
The treatment cost is 4000  USD for one nosology(for example Sinus Infection) which includes the price of commercial phages, doctors consultation , all medications(like probiotics, enzymes and other natural supplements) as applicable and second course of medications which you take at home.
If Patient has a second nosology(for example UTI) price  increases.
If for the treatment commercial phages are not usable, if they are resistant, necessary to prepare individual (custom phage), the price for that is $1560 for 1 liter(20 boxes). This is an additional cost.
As you know, we don’t have in-patient options, so you have to book a hotel or apartment near the clinic.
Also, we have pick up service from Airport, price is $25.  Our driver will give you sterile containers, for that to bring fresh samples the next day in the clinic.


If you  can not travel, we can send phages in UK

What shall I decide? to my amazement Daniel is keen that we both go. I have a feeling there’s some Georgian wine thing they grow in the ground for a hundred years…maybe growing phages… he knows about Georgian stuff apparently or do they make Teslas there ? His other passion at the moment.

The clinics I have looked at 

• Eliava Institute, Tiblisi, Georgia this actually looks better as its only 10 days
• Phage Therapy Centre Tiblisi, Georgia and I chose this one
• Phage Therapy Unit Polish Academy of Sciences maybe I should have done this one at it is nearer cheaper easier and offers e appointments

In the UK this seems to be a start:

Patients in the UK must discuss with their own consultant whether phage therapy may be suitable for them.

Phage therapy is not a licensed medicine in the UK. It is up to your consultant to decide whether phage therapy should be considered. Phage therapy may only be considered where licensed alternatives (e.g. antibiotics) are not meeting a patient’s clinical needs.

• Complementary meds for chronic ut

https://bit.ly/3R909ST³

• Live UTI free this excellent US site, the CEO Mel is wonderful

https://bit.ly/3Z9s1bF⁴

https://liveutifree.com/phage-therapy/amp/?fbclid=IwAR2SDKTTi4yDdp8VW-LIlaSVyqa6p_5UbSuMOvuYmHhHXSWp-Dn8WffuFkE

Phages

post script from CH

No one is really using phage therapy clinically in the UK but there is a group in (I think) Leicester who are researching on this subject. Personally I have no experience of it but there is a fairly well conducted RCT in men published in one of the lancet journals – I cant seem to access the full paper though. This would report adverse events but they are not detailed in the abstract.

Link to abstract

Intravesical bacteriophages for treating urinary tract infections in patients undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate: a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial – PubMed (nih.gov)

From Tom

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(21)00612-5/fulltext#seccestitle10
Tom is assuming you’ve already seen this…

1. https://bit.ly/3R909ST ↩︎
2. https://bit.ly/3Z9s1bF ↩︎
3. https://bit.ly/3R909ST ↩︎
4. https://bit.ly/3Z9s1bF ↩︎